


It's Us After All

by saranghanu



Category: Mamamoo, wheesa - Fandom
Genre: Angst, F/F, From friends to lovers, Romance, Wheesa - Freeform, canonverse, kinda slowburn sorta
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-09
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2020-02-29 05:57:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18772615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saranghanu/pseuds/saranghanu
Summary: “Hyejin always thought these things came gradually. That if two people knew each other for as long as she had known Wheein, falling in love would happen slowly, bit by bit.” — Mamamoo's Hyejin and Wheein have been friends since middle school, but their worlds are suddenly thrown upside down when they realize they have deeper feelings to uncover. While the path seems so clear for Hyejin, Wheein's reluctancy comes as a mystery to her.





	1. The Kiss

**Author's Note:**

> Hello readers,
> 
> Thank you very much for taking an interest in this story. I've been writing on it for the past couple of weeks and have finally decided to publish the first part of it.
> 
> The total story will consist of three parts. So far I've finished the first part in its entirety which I will be posting over the next days or weeks, depending on how the story is conceived, so please leave me a comment to let me know your thoughts! 

PART I — Hyejin’s POV

_____

Chapter One  
_____

 

Hyejin always thought these things came gradually. That if two people knew each other for as long as she had known Wheein, falling in love would happen slowly, bit by bit.

Falling in love wasn’t new to her. She’s had crushes that either died down with time or developed into something more. Things that either ended in beauty or in pain. Whatever the outcome, Wheein would always be right there by her side. 

Yet none of her previous relationships could ever compare to what she felt when she first fell in love with her. Nothing could have prepared her for that.

It was strange, really.

Growing up together, they had never craved each other’s bodies. As children they played together, had sleepovers and even bathed together. As they went through puberty, neither of them were ashamed or prudish about their changing figures. When becoming trainees and after debuting together, seeing each other’s naked bodies in changing rooms became as commonplace as seeing their own.

The two girls knew each other better than anyone else. Better than their own families. Their lives became rooted together from the moment they met, and as they grew older, their souls intertwined more and more. 

There were no secrets between them. Hyejin wouldn’t even know how to keep anything from her to start with, highly aware that Wheein could read her like a book. Sometimes she even thought she understood her better than she understood herself. They could read each other like no one else could, as if their hearts and minds were connected by a thread that had only grown thicker throughout the years. 

After all those years of growing together, years of having no boundaries in any aspect of their lives, falling in love with her seemed as inevitable as it was surprising.

Hyejin would never forget the exact moment it happened. 

Wheein had stayed over at her apartment like she had done countless times before. At one moment things were like they always had been, and the next her world was suddenly flipped upside down.

They were lying in bed, facing each other in the dark. Meaningless chatter filled up the room as they enjoyed one another’s company. Wheein had laughed at something she said and buried her head under Hyejin’s chin, a familiar action that often accompanied her sleepy laughter during late nights. 

The blonde had moved her head back again, resting it on the pillow in front of the other girl. Smiles mirrored each other’s as eyes met, familiar dark orbs wordlessly showcasing Wheein’s elation. It was just an average Tuesday night. 

Until suddenly it wasn’t.

After all those years, it was like something suddenly aligned. She didn’t know why it was then and not three, five, ten years ago. It was a mystery why it was that particular uneventful Tuesday night. Why it was in a situation they had been in more times than they could remember. 

But it happened that night when something behind their eyes suddenly shifted. Hearts unexpectedly started beating faster, breaths became heavier. Hyejin knew it was a mutual experience when she saw the other girl swallowing nervously as her eyes traveled down to her lips. It was an overwhelming feeling that washed through her whole beings without warning. A feeling that felt so incredibly right, like everything clicked into place in that moment. As if she had been looking for something that had been right in front of her this whole time.

Hyejin knew Wheein felt it too. The whole atmosphere in the room changed, throwing them into an unfamiliar situation, which in itself was terrifying for the two girls. They knew each other better than anyone else in the world, but this was suddenly unknown territory. But besides the fear and uncertainty, there was excitement and clarity, because Hyejin knew she weren’t alone in this.

It felt natural to lean in and press her lips against her best friend’s. 

She swallowed the gasp that escaped her mouth as their lips moved against the other’s. She felt the brunette’s hands fist the hem of her shirt as her own moved to her shoulders and neck, pulling her closer. 

The feeling was new, unusual, and most of all overwhelming. She had never felt anything like this before, and she wanted — needed — more of it.

But then suddenly her lips and her body were gone, the warmth exchanged for a cold emptiness, leaving Hyejin’s hands floating frozen in the air. She opened her eyes to find Wheein sitting on the edge of the bed, shaky fingers running through disheveled hair.

“Hey,” Hyejin shifted in the bed, pushing herself upright to follow after her, but the other girl avoided the hand that went to her shoulder and stood up. Out of reach. 

Hyejin could see a dark expression washing over her. It was one that she hadn’t seen in a while, and it immediately brought her back to darker times. She knew it meant that she was scared. Terrified. She tried to hide it from her, but Hyejin knew her too well.

“Hey,” she started again, unsure of how to continue. She didn’t understand what had just happened, but she knew it caused a shift between the two of them that couldn’t be reversed. She didn’t want it to be reversed, but from the look on Wheein’s face, she did. 

That look sparked fear in her. It made her want to trap her in her arms to keep her by her side, because it felt like she was about to run and never return. The look reminded her all too much of a time Wheein had shut her out for weeks at a time. 

“It’s okay,” she told her, but the brunette’s expression didn’t change. Her hands itched to reach out to her, but she knew that if she did, she’d just hide away further. For one of the first times, Hyejin didn’t know what to do to make things okay.

So she just sat there with her arms clutched around her bare knees. She watched in silence as Wheein tried to control the shaking of her hands. For a moment Hyejin thought she was about to have a panic attack, but gradually the storm passed and her breathing slowed down. 

She watched her attentively as Wheein walked back to the bed, lifting up the blankets to slide under them in silence. She had left an unnatural amount of space between the two of them and had faced the other way, but after her previous negative reaction Hyejin couldn’t help relief from washing over her now.

So she shifted and laid back down as well, eyes burning into the back of Wheein’s head. They had slept in this bed together numerous times, but she had never felt this much distance between them. She wanted to say something. She wanted to reach out and touch her arm, her shoulder, her neck.

She wanted to shift over and wrap her arms around her waist, something Hyejin had done so often before, but would mean something much more loaded now. Wheein's name laid on her tongue, but she swallowed it back before she could scare her away again. 

But her hands were twitching, and she couldn’t stop herself from moving them forward over the sheets. Her left hand floated in the air behind her head like it had when Wheein had pulled away from their kiss only moments earlier. 

Hyejin held her breath as she closed the distance, carefully running fingertips through her hair, waiting for the girl to react.

But she didn’t, so her hand instinctively continued. Her fingers ran through strands of hair, the familiar softness enticing a pleasant feeling in the pit of her stomach. She continued downwards to her bare shoulder, shuffling closer behind her. 

Wheein didn’t move, but when Hyejin's fingers drifted from her shoulder to her arm like soft brush strokes, she could hear her breath hitch. It caused her own body to react by shifting even closer, her front now flush against her back. 

Hyejin didn’t even think about it when she buried her nose in soft hair, the familiar scent of her shampoo drowning her in comfort. 

She could tell the other girl was trying to control her breathing and she knew that she wasn’t doing a much better job herself. Her fingers wrapped around her arm, squeezing lightly as the other girl’s hand clung to the sheets. She stayed there like that, forehead resting against the back of Wheein’s head. 

While the position itself wasn’t unfamiliar to either of them, everything about it now was new. Skin Hyejin was so accustomed to now suddenly felt static under her touch. 

Despite feeling clumsy and unskilled in her movements, it also felt more right than anything had ever felt. Like it was only a matter of time before their hearts aligned. 

And though it was scary and different than what they were used to, it felt like coming home.

Hyejin clung to her, breathing in time with her. She laid awake for hours, listening to Wheein’s breathing eventually evening out as she fell asleep in her arms. The hand clutching the sheets finally relaxed, and Hyejin knew she must’ve been exhausted. She pressed a soft kiss to her neck before carefully wrapping her arm around her waist. When her head found its place against a soft shoulder, Hyejin finally dared closing her eyes.


	2. Unclear Shapes and Shadows

She feels odd when she wakes up. Like this significant realization has lifted a weight off her shoulders that she didn’t even know was there. She feels lighter somehow, like breathing is easier.

She stretches out her limbs, realizing the space beside her is now empty. She must have rolled away from Wheein during the night, because she can’t imagine the other girl possibly writhing herself free from her arms without waking her.

The shower is running, and Hyejin frowns when she looks over at the clock to see that it’s only eight o’clock. They have at least another thirty minutes to sleep before they have to get up for schedules. She wonders what sparked the other girl to get up this early. Whether it was thoughts of the previous night that had woken her up, and whether those were good thoughts or bad thoughts.

Hyejin mind drifts to the previous night, thinking of the way her lips had moved against Wheein’s and how her hands had pulled at her shirt. How her warm body had fallen asleep in her arms despite her brief panic, and how it had all felt so right. She can’t imagine it felt wrong to her.

She rolls onto her stomach and finds herself pathetically smiling into a pillow, stretching out like a starfish. She waits for sleep to come over her again, but her bladder screams for her to get up.

She pushes herself off the bed and enters the bathroom, opening the door with no second thought. Wheein’s back is turned to her and she’s singing softly to herself as she washes the shampoo out of her hair. When Hyejin sees her, she suppresses the urge to join her in the shower. That would be crossing into new territory.

It’s become a habit for them to shower together the mornings after she stays over, but now she sees her body in a new light. She’s still the Wheein she has always known, but there’s something more now. Joining her would be a step too big.

When Hyejin sits down on the toilet, Wheein finally turns around after having seen something shift in the corner of her eye. She physically jumps when she sees her, and when she stops singing and turns away, Hyejin's heart drops.

She’s hiding again. The way she hugs her body shows she’s clearly uncomfortable being naked in front of her, despite it being such an ordinary thing for the two of them.

The shower is turned off just as she flushes the toilet. Hyejin observes her through the mirror while she washes her hands, watching as the other girl covers her breasts with one arm. She stretches the other to grab a towel from the rack, but it’s just out of reach.

Hyejin wordlessly walks over, grabbing the towel and handing it over. Eyes seem to be avoiding hers at all costs. She’s embarrassed, and apart from the disappointment Hyejin feels because of it, it also sparks some annoyance in her.

“Wheein.”

“What?” she asks, wrapping the towel around her body.

“We should talk about last night.” Hyejin is not one to avoid her issues, but she knows Wheein differs from her in that aspect sometimes. Her ability to ignore a problem instead of facing it head-on is something that annoys Hyejin endlessly at times, especially when it’s a problem between the two of them.

She sighs exasperatedly, still avoiding the younger girl’s gaze.

“Wheein.”

She finally looks up at her, pointing at the towel wrapped around her in annoyance. “Can I get dressed first, or what?”

Hyejin is slightly taken aback by her irked reaction, but she knows it’s because she doesn’t know how to deal with the situation. She recognizes her inner turmoil by the way she shuts Hyejin out.

“Fine,” Hyejin says.

Wheein quickly steps out of the way when Hyejin reaches over to turn the shower back on. When she pulls her shirt over her head without hesitation and notices the other girl’s eyes almost popping out of their sockets, she thinks she could’ve perhaps been a little less careless.

She’s always been comfortable with her body, especially in front of Wheein, but now she suddenly feels more naked than ever. She ignores the need to cover herself up again and steps under the spray of water instead, leaving the other girl stumbling out of the bathroom.

After having thought long and hard about what to say to Wheein to let her know that she was happy about what happened the previous night, she gets out of the shower. When she catches the other girl putting on her coat in the hallway, she immediately jumps into action, struggling to get her shirt over the towel on her head.

“You said we’d talk about last night,” Hyejin says as she pushes the hem of her t-shirt into her pants.

Wheein pulls her phone out of her pocket and quickly shows her the time. “You took way too long in the shower, we have to be at the company.”

She gasps when she sees they’re already running late. When she quickly checks her own phone’s screen to see if the other girl hadn’t somehow changed her phone’s timezone to get out of the conversation — something that she couldn’t rule out when thinking of Wheein’s previous panic — she lets her shoulders drop in defeat. She must have taken much longer to get ready than she realized.

“I didn't have breakfast,” she whimpers.

Wheein takes a packet of yoghurt with cereal out of her bag and waves it in the other girl’s direction. Eyes light up as she eagerly takes it from her, nodding when Wheein tells her to eat it in the car.

When Hyejin shrugs on her coat in silence, she’s disappointed to see the other girl is effectively avoiding her eyes again. She knows that she’s relieved that they no longer have time to talk about what happened, and that frustrates Hyejin to no end.

Wheein is giving off the vibe that what the two of them did was bad when it wasn’t. There was nothing wrong with the kiss they shared. How could it be when it had felt so utterly right? The fact that Wheein was implying that there was something wrong about it — like it was something that shouldn’t have happened — hurt her.

Wheein was distancing herself, trying to push back her emotions, leaving the younger girl stuck with all of these feelings she didn’t know how to deal with on her own. She couldn’t figure this out by herself, she needed her best friend for that.

“Wheein,” she tries again, already bracing herself to be cut off.

“We’re going to be late,” Wheein says without sparing her a glance.

She sighs in frustration and steps into her shoes. “We can’t just forget about this.”

At that, Wheein scoffs. She picks up Hyejin’s bag from the mat and shoves it into the girl’s chest before opening the door.

“Sure you can.”

_____

  
Some time ago during one of their promotion periods, there had been a time where Wheein hadn’t quite acted like herself. She had distanced herself from her members. It was clear that she was going through a hard time, and for one of the first times ever, Hyejin hadn’t known what to do about it. All she had wanted was help her best friend find her footing again, but the more she tried, the more Wheein had pushed her away.

It was a dark time for their friendship. A dark time for all of Mamamoo. Accepting that Hyejin couldn’t do anything to help her and that it was something Wheein wanted and needed to go through by herself was tough for her. They had done everything together for almost half of their lives after all.

They went to school together. They made friends together. They had dinner at each other’s house. They slept in each other’s beds. They discovered their passions together. They moved to Seoul together. They debuted as Mamamoo together. Everything, together.

Then suddenly that was no longer the case. Wheein had held her at arms length for weeks, making sure that Hyejin wouldn’t come too close, and there had been nothing she could do about it. To this day she still didn’t quite understand what had happened. Her friendship with Wheein was like a clear path, but those few weeks of darkness were one of the biggest mysteries to her.

She knew Wheein got sad sometimes. The brighter the sun, the darker the shadow, right? She was the brightest and happiest person Hyejin had the pleasure of knowing, but sometimes the small girl was swallowed up by the darkness. Hyejin wasn’t always able to pull her out, no matter how hard she tried.

It wasn’t as if they suddenly stopped being friends altogether. They still hung out, especially with other people present. It was just that the carefree Wheein she knew and loved had hidden away for a little while. The new Wheein was mindful and precise in her words and actions.

She didn’t spend time with Hyejin for hours upon end until deep in the night. She didn’t warm her side by clinging to her on cloudy days. She didn’t talk to her about her fears and insecurities. She didn’t laugh as hard at the silly jokes she made. She didn’t smile as much.

But the clouds had made way for the sun again. Things had gradually gotten better, until one day Hyejin came to the realization that her Wheein was truly back. Things had gone back to the way they were before, and it was almost as if those couple of weeks had never happened. But they did, and they were etched into Hyejin’s mind.

It wasn’t that she hadn’t tried talking to the other girl about that time, but Wheein was always dismissive about it, telling her that talking about those times wouldn’t do anyone any good. The younger girl eventually decided to trust Wheein’s judgement and to just enjoy the present.

Now, Wheein’s dismissive attitude about the kiss they shared the previous night made that difficult. The way she was silent the entire car ride to the company and the way she intently put in her earphones when Hyejin finally did try to talk to her reminded her all too much of those dark days.

It scared her, especially knowing that she was the cause of it this time around.


	3. Uncommon Ground

That first day after their kiss Wheein avidly avoids Hyejin, focusing only on the dance routine they’ve prepared for practice. She doesn’t join in with the usual banter. Instead she clearly just wants to get things done as soon as possible so she can leave again. Yongsun asks if everything is okay at one point, which Wheein quickly shrugs off with a nod. 

“Are you guys fighting?” Byulyi asks suspiciously. The older girls know their dynamics good enough to know when something is off between them.

“No,” Wheein immediately answers, sparing Hyejin a quick glance as she nervously plays with her waterbottle. 

The two older girls don’t look too convinced, clearly sensing the heaviness in the room. “Did something happen?”

“Nothing much, no.” Wheein shrugs indifferently, and Hyejin can’t help but scoff, immediately earning a stern gaze from the other girl.  

Yongsun looks between the two of them in anticipation, waiting for either of the two elaborate on the situation. “Right,” she drags out when neither of them does. “You guys are acting really weird.” 

“Hey, I didn’t even say anything,” Hyejin says defensively.

“Exactly. Weird.” Byulyi grins, but quickly cowers away when Hyejin playfully holds up a threatening fist. She drags Wheein in front of her by her shoulders to defend herself, but the brunette simply grimaces, clearly unamused. 

Hyejin drops her fist with a not-so-subtle roll of her eyes, which Wheein decides to ignore before turning back to the music player. “Let’s continue practice so we can go home on time.”

Hyejin can’t help but frown at that. She discreetly tugs on Wheein’s sleeve to get her attention while the two older girls are distracted with each other. “Wheein…” she says quietly when the other girl doesn’t respond. “We’re still going to talk about last night, right?” They can’t just ignore it altogether.

Wheein loudly shushes her with a frown, gesturing towards the older girls next to them. 

“Seriously, what is up with you two?” Byulyi chuckles at their mysterious behavior.

Wheein crosses her arms and raises an eyebrow at Hyejin as if to say “I told you so.” Hyejin pulls up her shoulders in defense. She’s pretty sure it wasn’t her, but Wheein’s loud shushing that caught Byulyi’s attention. 

“Don’t mind us, Wheein is just in a mood,” she tells Byulyi, ignoring Wheein’s eyeroll. 

“Alright, let’s set your weird issues aside and just continue practice, okay? We still have a lot of choreography to get through.” Yongsun wastes no time playing the music through the speakers, barely giving the other girls enough time to get into formation. 

Wheein seems eager to leave Hyejin’s previous question unanswered, and she lets her off for now. She knows Wheein can’t run away from this forever, though when Wheein hangs her bag over her shoulder and mutters a quick goodbye to Yongsun and Byulyi before they’ve even had time to turn off the music, Hyejin catches up to her in a panic.

Wheein drops her shoulders in defeat when the younger girl grabs onto her arm and pulls her into an empty practice room. 

Hyejin scoffs at her in disbelief. “You were really just going to leave without talking to me about yesterday?”

“Figured I could try,” Wheein shrugs. She drops her bag to the floor and crosses her arms over her chest defensively. 

“Well, can we talk about it now?” Hyejin tries.

“There’s not really much to talk about,” she says with another indifferent shrug. Her disinterest would almost be comical if it wasn’t for the fact that it frustrated Hyejin beyond words.

“How can you say that? Of course there is.” Her fingers encircle one of the smaller girl’s wrists and pulls it towards her to break her defensive posture. “You know this wasn’t just some random thing that happened.” 

The kiss had thrown their friendship into unknown territory, and it wasn’t an option for them not to talk about it. After more than ten years of friendship, this wasn’t something that could just be ignored. 

“It didn’t mean anything.” Wheein pulls her arm back, the other girl’s hand now hovering aimlessly in the space between them.

Hyejin would have probably been hurt by her words if someone else had said them to her, but now she only feels more of her frustration bubbling up. She knows Wheein doesn’t mean it. She knows it meant more than either of them could understand. Like it was something that was always meant to happen.

“You know it did,” she says. “Why are you being like this? Why are you making things so hard?”

“Me? You’re the one making things hard here.” 

Wheein’s exasperated sigh and inability to meet her eyes calms Hyejin a bit. She’s clearly afraid, but of what? She can hardly imagine Wheein being scared of what other people would think, because nobody needed to know. On top of that, Wheein generally wasn’t one to care much about what others thought of her, especially when it came to Byulyi and Yongsun.

“Look, I know this is new and kind of strange, but it’s us we’re talking about here.” She takes a step forward, placing a comforting hand on the other girl’s shoulder to ensure she doesn’t move away.

“Wheein, look at me,” she says when the other girl still avoids her gaze. When her eyes finally hesitantly meet hers, she continues. “What are you so afraid of?”

Wheein’s shoulders slump as she breaks eye contact again to look up at the ceiling. “I’m not afraid, I just,” she sighs in frustration. “You just don’t understand.”

“That’s why I’m asking you to talk to me about this. We can figure it out,” she says softly as her hand travels up to briefly touch the ‘Caddo’ tattoo on the girl’s neck. The word signifies the depths of their friendship. It signifies the burdens they carry for each other, if only Wheein would let her. The brief caress is something both of them have done so often, but it somehow feels much more intimate now. 

It entices a soft sigh from Wheein’s lips, and Hyejin’s heart immediately flutters when she sees Wheein’s eyes darken. The temperature in the room suddenly rises, and she wonders what it would be like to lean in and press her lips against Wheein’s again. She wants to, needs to, explore these new feelings with her best friend. 

But when her thumb brushes over the soft skin of her neck for a second time, Wheein suddenly seems to come back to her senses. She steps away from her, causing Hyejin’s hand to drop to her side.

“Look, you don’t understand. It shouldn’t have happened,” Wheein says, drawing another frustrated sigh out of the other girl.

“So, what? You just want to go back to the way things were?” Hyejin knows that the idea of them ignoring these feelings was unrealistic. 

But Wheein nods. 

“Why? I really, I–” she cradles her head in frustration, desperately trying to make sense of what Wheein is thinking. “I don’t understand you.” 

“Just trust me when I say it’s for the best,” Wheein calmly tells her as she picks up her bag from the ground and sets out to leave. 

“No, Wheein.” She’s not ready to give up yet. She grabs her arm as the other girl pushes past her, stopping her in her tracks. “That’s utter bullshit. Stop being so stubborn and stop pretending to be all wise and cryptic about this when neither of us really has any idea of what’s going on with us.” 

The dissatisfaction is clear in her voice and in the way her nails dig into Wheein’s arm. She just wants them to talk this out and find some common ground. 

“I know exactly what’s going on,” she says as she yanks her arm free from Hyejin’s grip. “Just because you’re confused about this doesn’t mean I’m obligated to sit here and explain it all to you.”

The sudden fire in her words take Hyejin by surprise for a moment, giving the other girl the opportunity to finally take her exit. She falters for a moment before quickly following her out of the room. With people now walking past them through the company’s hallways, she can’t speak freely anymore, so she sticks close to Wheein’s side as they continue walking. 

“So what is going on?” she mutters under her breath. “Why are you so angry about this?”

“I’m not angry,” Wheein says before quickly bowing and greeting a passing staff member. “I just think we should try to forget it happened.” 

“Why?” Hyejin doesn’t understand how the other girl could speak so lightly about this. As if their kiss had been this minor incident and the immense feelings it generated were just an inconvenience that they should forget about.

“We can’t just pretend certain feelings aren’t there,” Hyejin hisses when Wheein doesn’t answer.

“Actually that’s exactly what I’m going to do,” she says matter of factly. 

It’s her first time admitting out loud that there are in fact feelings there, but Hyejin doesn’t have any time to enjoy it under these circumstances. 

“So what, you’re suddenly homophobic or something? Is that it?” 

Wheein had never been one to judge people for who they were, who they loved or what they believed in, but they had also never talked about the possibility of them being one of those people. But the idea of Wheein dismissing her feelings because of homophobia is quickly refuted when she stops in her tracks and whips around, Hyejin running into her in surprise. 

“No!” she says angrily, and all Hyejin can do is hold up her hands in defense. 

“So then what? Are you afraid of people finding out?” she looks around them in the empty hallway. “Nobody needs to know.” 

Wheein’s anger quickly dissipates, changing into something more akin to defeat. She sighs and pulls Hyejin into a door closest to them, a shared bathroom. She quickly checks the stalls for people, finally turning back to Hyejin when she’s sure they’re alone. 

When she grabs her by the shoulders and intently meets her gaze, Hyejin’s breath hitches for a moment, anticipating what’s about to happen. But her heart drops when Wheein opens her mouth. 

“I’m not afraid and I’m not confused. I’m saying that I just don’t want that for us,” she says with determination. “I want us to just be friends. Best friends.” 

The finality in her voice throws Hyejin off. She can’t make sense of it, because she knows Wheein had felt just as much as she had. The previous night’s events had felt like something inevitable, like it was meant to happen sooner or later. It had shifted her whole world, and now here Wheein was telling her to just forget about it.

“I don’t… I,” she stammers. She feels helpless knowing she can’t change Wheein’s mind. How could the girl so easily dismiss her feelings and ask her to do the same? “I don’t know if I can just do that.” 

“I know you can,” Wheein says. “Just trust me, it’s for the best.” 

“How can it possibly be for the best?” How could forgetting about something that had felt so right be considered the right thing to do? It had affected and changed their friendship as soon as it had happened. Why was Wheein denying that?

“Things will get back to normal soon enough,” she says, but suddenly she doesn’t sound all too sure of herself. 

Hyejin is even less convinced.


	4. Frustrations

The following days are tough. 

Things happen exactly the way Hyejin feared they would. Every time she tries to talk to Wheein about that night, she shuts her out. After a while, Wheein starts avoiding her at all costs, even pushing her away when she tries to talk about things unrelated to their friendship. 

The more Wheein pushes, the more frustrated Hyejin becomes. She eventually reaches a point where she’s so done with the other girl’s immature behavior that she just stops trying altogether.

Wheein had told her that things would go back to normal, but her avoiding behavior wasn’t helping much on that part. Hyejin had no idea how their friendship could possibly be repaired without them being able to communicate with each other. 

Wheein was ruining everything.

What was even worse than her anger, was that she also missed her terribly. At moments like this she was reminded of the fact that this situation was something she wanted to talk to Wheein about. She wanted to complain to Wheein. She wanted advice from Wheein. She wanted Wheein to take her side and confirm that the other party was indeed being childish and unfair. 

But Wheein was the other party, and she didn’t have anyone else to talk to about this. The consequences of her telling Yongsun or Byulyi about what had happened would be too big.

It felt horrible having to keep it all cropped up. Not being able to talk about how amazing it had felt to press her lips against Wheein’s. How after all the years of knowing each other, the familiar combined with the unknown had her heart beating faster than any time she’s been on stage. 

Perhaps the worst of all was that Wheein didn’t seem to share these hardships. She seemed somehow unaffected by the loss of their friendship, instead spending more time with Yongsun and Byulyi. The two older girls clearly noticed that something had happened between the two, but neither of them mentioned anything to them about it again after that first day. 

At least not to Hyejin. A few days after their last conversation, she walks in on Byulyi and Wheein talking about something in the rehearsal room. She wishes her entry had been quieter, because as soon as the girls notice her their conversation suddenly dies down, giving her the impression that they had been talking about her. 

It hurts her. She starts feeling like an outsider within the group, and she can’t help but curse Wheein for it. 

She’s extra grumpy during rehearsals that day, ignoring instructions, doing things her own way, and purposely drinking the last of Wheein’s water when she isn’t looking. 

When they call it a day and Wheein clings to Yongsun’s arm as they leave the room together, Hyejin can’t stop herself from groaning out loud.

The sound causes Byulyi to look up at her. When she follows her gaze to the door, she seems to understand the cause of her frustration.

“We weren’t talking about you,” she says while packing her bag, causing Hyejin to look up at her in surprise. 

“When you walked in earlier, I mean,” she continues. “When we went quiet, we weren’t talking about you.” 

She pauses packing the last of her stuff. “Then what were you talking about?” 

“It’s not for me to tell you,” Byulyi hesitates, nervously playing with the water bottle in her hands.

The habit sparks some sudden worry in her. There aren’t many secrets between them as a group, let alone between her and Wheein. Even during times where they’re not on the best terms, they don’t usually keep important things from each other. If there’s something Byulyi can’t tell her, it must be something serious. 

“What do you mean? Is something wrong?” 

“No, no! Everything’s fine,” she says quickly. “Just… things will be okay.”

She knows Byulyi is trying to ease her mind, but her ambiguity really isn’t helping much. If anything, it’s making her worry more. 

“What do you mean ‘things will be okay’? Are they not okay now?” Hyejin questions her. When Byulyi doesn’t immediately reply, she grabs the older girl’s wrist to stop her hands from playing with her bottle. “What’s wrong?”

“Hyejin, relax,” she says.

Wheein always told her everything. They knew absolutely everything about each other, but now there was something Byulyi knew that Hyejin was in the dark about? Something that Wheein couldn’t talk to her about? It had to be related to their kiss, because otherwise her distancing herself only from Hyejin didn’t make any sense. But would she have really talked to Byulyi about that? 

“Wheein just needs some time,” Byulyi continues. 

Hyejin looks at her intently, searching for something that will give her some explanation to all of this. It was impossible for her to know what had happened between them, right? Wheein refused talking about their kiss with Hyejin, so she wouldn’t have talked to Byulyi about it. Right?

“Time? For what? Time from me?” 

“I-, no, it’s not your fault,” Byulyi says. “Just give her some space I guess.” 

Her hesitance confuses her even more. The only thing her brain keeps repeating over and over is that Byulyi knows. She knows about the two of them. But if Wheein had filled her in about their kiss, what did that mean exactly? She had told Hyejin that she wanted to forget it ever happened, so telling other people about it didn’t add up. 

“Did she…” 

Did she tell you? she wanted to ask, but she was suddenly afraid of the answer. The possibility of Wheein talking about it with Byulyi instead of with her scared her. It suggested that perhaps it really hadn’t meant much to her if she could so lightly speak about it with others. 

Had she imagined the way Wheein’s breathing quickened as their lips pressed together? Had she imagined her clinging to her shirt as she pulled her closer towards her? Had she imagined the way her eyes had grown dark and hungry as the atmosphere suddenly changed? Had it only been her universe that seemed to shift completely?

“Look, you know her,” Byulyi sighs. “She’s stubborn, but she’ll come around. Just be patient with her.”

She wonders how much longer she’ll have to keep this patience up. How long will it take for Wheein to stop avoiding her?

“It’s you and her we’re talking about after all,” Byulyi finishes. 

Yeah, it’s her and Wheein. Whatever that means.   
___  
She first notices that Wheein misses her too during one of their performances a few days later. They still haven’t talked much, and Hyejin doesn’t make much effort to get close to the girl during their songs. She focuses on the choreography and the audience’s cheers instead as she silently watches Wheein do the same. 

Ahn Hyejin makes place for Hwasa, and Hwasa doesn’t have time to worry about her love life. She performs like her life depends on it. 

It isn’t until their last song, Um Oh Ah Yeh, that they discard their choreography to walk around the stage instead, waving and sending hearts to their fans. Out of the corner of her eye she sees Byulyi and Yongsun being disgusting together, and her mind immediately wanders to how she would be doing the same with Wheein if their situation wasn’t like their current one.

Those thoughts quickly disappear when she feels a warm body pressing to her back. Despite just seeing Byulyi and Yongsun at the other side of the stage, her initial thought is that it must be one of them. It can’t possibly be Wheein pressing in to her after she’s ignored her for almost an entire week. Except she doesn’t even need to turn around to know that it is. 

She feels Wheein curve around her body, arm slithering around her waist and head resting on the back of her shoulder. The younger girl stands frozen, and she knows that if this song hadn’t been like second nature to her, she would’ve definitely missed her next line. 

She can barely even hear the audience’s cheers increasing through the sound of the blood rushing through her ears.

Hwasa is quickly replaced by Ahn Hyejin again, and she has a hard time wiping the shock off her face. Her legs feel weak and she stumbles in surprise when Wheein pulls her backwards into her body. She quickly turns around to hide her face from the audience, but Wheein’s dark eyes don’t do much to calm her down. 

Fuck, is all she can think.

Did Wheein always look at her like this on stage? Hyejin could easily see the determination and the passion in her eyes while she was performing, but this… Wheein looked hungry for something. She looked more alive than ever.

She wondered if that look had always been there and if she only noticed it now after seeing her in a new light. 

She thought back of earlier times. Simpler times when the two of them would be running around the kitchen in Jeonju, singing and dancing at the top of their lungs and Wheein’s grandmother scolding them whenever they got too loud. 

She thought of their first performance together in middle school. They had both been incredibly nervous to perform at the talent show, but as soon as their eyes had met on the small stage in the auditorium, their nerves had been taken over by excitement.

She thought of their early times in Seoul and the hours upon hours of training they did together. The longer they danced and sang, the more devoted Wheein always seemed to become before her energy levels crashed at the end of the day and her eyes would dim down. 

She could see all those same emotions in Wheein’s eyes now, but there was something more. Something she had never noticed in those previous years, and it was perhaps the most beautiful she had ever seen her. 

And suddenly, she shared that determination. She shared those sentiments drawn by the passion of them performing on stage together. They started off as two girls with the same dream, and now they were here on a stage in Seoul at some University festival. Together. 

And so she finds her footing again as Hwasa makes her reappearance. She confidently steps forward and pulls on Wheein’s arm, placing it around her own waist. She leans into the embrace as she sings into her microphone over Wheein’s shoulder. 

“It’s getting hotter, the distance between me and you,” the two of them sing the Korean lyrics together. 

They lean back as they listen to Byulyi’s line in their earpiece. Hyejin feels full when their gazes meet and she still finds that dark and warm expression in Wheein’s eyes. She thinks that perhaps things will be okay between them after all. 

But then suddenly as Wheein and Yongsun sing the next line, something in her eyes snaps, and the cold Wheein is back. Hiding.

“Is she his girlfriend, or just a friend?” Wheein sings as she easily moves around Hyejin to focus on Yongsun instead. The moment is gone. 

Byulyi somehow seems to read Hyejin’s sudden dejected mood, because she steps in to replace Wheein’s arms around her waist, giving her a light squeeze. When their gazes meet, Hyejin can almost read the pity in her eyes. 

It makes her think Byulyi definitely knows. 

___

The days that follow are similar to that day on stage. Just like then, Hyejin and Wheein dance around each other, concentrating on their own lives while highly aware of the other’s presence. 

They don’t speak about the way Wheein had clung to Hyejin’s back during their performance. Often, they don’t speak at all.

However, things like that night start happening more often. While Hyejin keeps her distance, Wheein slowly seems to be drawn to her again. It had confused her to no limit when Wheein suddenly brought her lunch as some sort of peace offering. 

She acted like nothing had happened between them as she chatted away about teaching Ggomo to play fetch with a little toy mouse. She had even showed her a video of the cat running after a mouse, taking it between his teeth and walking towards an enthusiastic Wheein before scattering off again. 

Hyejin hadn’t really known how to act. After being ignored and left on her own with her feelings for a week, she couldn’t just go back to such a simple interaction when the elephant was still in the room. 

Still, it was better than being ignored, right? So Hyejin carefully played along. She thinks Wheein could read right through her, but she saw that she tried. Wheein clearly wanted to fall back into old patterns, desperately trying to ignore the unsaid. 

They didn’t talk about the two of them. Their conversations were about meaningless daily events, and most importantly, they were often one-sided. Hyejin just didn’t know how to have empty interactions with her when it was so obviously forced. She couldn’t help but try to stir the conversation towards the issues at hand, but as soon as she tried, Wheein was already ahead of her.

She’d anticipate the change in her demeanor or the softening of her voice. She’d divert the conversation or simply leave before it could happen. 

While frustrating upon no end, it also scared Hyejin. It reminded her of the dark period Wheein had gone through all those months ago when she kept her at arms length at all costs. She felt just as stuck as she did that time.

It was a horrible game of cat and mouse. Every time Hyejin got too close or tried talking about the kiss, Wheein would push her away. Then whenever she gave up on trying, Wheein would come running back to her. That would make Hyejin pull her closer again, only to be driven away once more. It was like they were in a vicious circle, and Wheein had the lead. 

The game was so tiresome that she doesn’t think she’s ever been as exhausted. 

And truly, it’s not like Hyejin didn’t try to stop feeling these things for her best friend. It would be so much easier if things did get back to normal between them. That they could just forget about what had happened and maybe even laugh about it some day. 

But she can’t deny the way her heart flutters every time Wheein bites her lip in concentration during a particular dance move. She can’t stop herself from staring when Wheein wipes the sweat from her forehead with the bottom of her shirt. She can’t stop thinking about how cute she looks when the sip of water she takes causes her cheeks to puff out like a chipmunk. Pathetic.

What they could have is undeniable and she can’t just shove her feelings under the carpet, but she also knows that if Wheein won’t cooperate, perhaps trying to protect her own heart isn’t such a bad idea.

She’s not ready to give up on them, but Wheein is making it so difficult for her. She doesn’t know how much longer she can play this game before she explodes. 

She hopes Wheein will be there to pick up the pieces if she does.


	5. Friday Nights

It’s a Friday when something finally starts to unfold. 

They have rehearsals, again, and Hyejin is not in the mood for absolutely anything at all. She barely slept at all last night, and still managed to oversleep only to realize she had no breakfast when she finally did wake up. With no time to pass by a convenient store, she arrives at the company already late, with an empty stomach, a hoodie pulled over her head, and earbuds still plugged into her ears. 

She sees Yongsun open her mouth to scold her, but she stops when she notices Hyejin’s demeanor. 

Hyejin is grateful. She’s not sure whether she’d start yelling back or start crying in the process of being berated. 

Her three members have spent enough time with her to know what she can get like when she’s in a bad mood, but usually only Wheein knows how to properly deal with it. She tends to clash with Yongsun at moments like this, who often tells her to step up and stop slacking off, but this time she seems to sense Hyejin is already going through a hard enough time.

Though her plan is to get through rehearsals as quickly as possible so she can go home and dive back into bed, Wheein seems to have a different idea. She walks over to the music player in the back of the room and connects it to her phone. They get into formation, but when the music starts they realize it’s not the song they were all expecting. 

“Huh?” Yongsun looks around her in confusion.

“Yes!” Byulyi cheers at the same time.

Wheein meets Hyejin’s eyes through the mirror with a playful grin on her lips as TVXQ!’s Rising Sun starts playing through the room, a clear ploy to brighten her mood. It’s something that has occurred countless times before. Silly and impromptu songs were often used to cheer someone up, but with everything going on between them now, Hyejin isn’t sure if she can appreciate Wheein’s efforts. 

Wheein and Byulyi immediately start singing and dancing along to the song, the younger girl dramatically turning towards Hyejin as the other tries to coax Yongsun into joining in. 

Any other day Wheein’s elaborate arm movements would have easily won over Hyejin’s heart, but today she feels like being petty. She doesn’t want to join in with her lighthearted shenanigans. She just wants to rehearse what they’re supposed to so that she can go home and sulk in bed. 

Wheein laughs when Hyejin actively starts avoiding her hands, moving out of the way with an annoyed grimace on her lips. That grimace would normally quickly turn into a small smile when the chorus of the song hits, but this time Hyejin doesn’t let it. Instead, she walks over to the music player and unlocks Wheein’s attached phone to play the song they need for rehearsals. 

“Hey,” Wheein complains with a pout when the song stops abruptly. “You’re no fun.” 

“We’re not here to have fun.” 

Wheein drops her arms by her side with a sigh, turning back to the two older girls. Byulyi shrugs while Yongsun frees herself from her arms. 

“Let’s rehearse now. We can have fun later if you want,” she suggests.

“That sounds weird, unnie,” Byulyi muses, immediately making Wheein double over in laughter. “We can watch a movie and have a drink at my place though.”

“I’m not drinking, but I’m up for a movie.” Yongsun starts listing a handful of movies she’s still been meaning to watch, most of the titles unfamiliar to Hyejin’s ears. 

“As long as it’s not horror,” Wheein says pointing a finger at the leader.

“I’m good with whatever. Hyejin, you?” 

Byulyi looks at her curiously when Hyejin starts shaking her head. “I’m not coming tonight.” 

Wheein’s shoulders drop, clearly disappointed by Hyejin’s dismissive behavior. “Why not?” she asks, and Hyejin can’t help her accusatory tone from ticking her off even more. 

“Because I didn’t sleep well last night.” 

“So what? We have the day off tomorrow, you can sleep all day then if you want to,” Wheein responds. 

Yongsun interrupts by clapping her hands and shaking Wheein back and forth by her shoulders. “We’ll discuss this later, guys. Let’s just get this dance routine done first. Byul said she has some great ideas.” And so they drop the subject for the time being and start rehearsals instead. 

The heavy mood in the room doesn’t change. Wheein is visibly annoyed by Hyejin’s bad mood, her eyes spitting fire every time they meet hers through the mirror, and sighing just a little too loudly when Hyejin messes up a step. 

Hyejin can't help but think of how selfish she’s being. Wheein has no right to get annoyed with her right now, not after she pushed her away for days after their kiss. They still haven’t talked about the growing wedge between them because of Wheein’s dismissive behavior, and Hyejin isn’t in the mood for more senseless and avoiding conversations that day.

At the end of practice she’s even more mentally drained than she already was, so when they finally, finally, prepare to leave and Yongsun asks if she really isn’t coming to hang out with them, she confidently says “most definitely not.” 

Wheein lets out a bitter chuckle at her words, and Hyejin is about to pettily copy her, but the look on Wheein’s face stops her. She doesn’t look annoyed or disappointed anymore. The way her eyebrows are slightly knit together and her lips are pulled into a thin line revealing her dimple to her tells Hyejin that she’s desperately fighting back tears. 

It surprises her, and she momentarily forgets about her own annoyances, but Wheein has already slung her bag over her shoulder and makes her way to the exit with Byulyi in tow, leaving Yongsun and Hyejin behind.

She’s about to sling her own bag over her shoulder and leave, but Yongsun stops her in her tracks by suddenly, unexpectedly throwing her arms around her shoulders. She pulls her tightly into her body, and it takes Hyejin a moment to realize what’s going on.

She stands frozen as one of the leader’s hands presses between her shoulder blades while the other finds the back of her head. For a moment she tries to pull back to ask what the hell is going on, but when Yongsun doesn’t let her, she slumps her shoulders and leans further into the embrace. Her arms wrap around the other girl’s waist as her head finds the crook of her neck. 

The hug makes her realize how touch-deprived she is. It makes her realize that she went from daily touches of affection to being pushed away and thrown around like she didn’t matter. She’s grateful to Yongsun for always knowing what her members need, despite not always being able to vocalize it. 

After a moment, the hug becomes awkward and they both slowly pull back from it. Yongsun clears her throat as she turns back to the mirror and starts redoing her ponytail.

“You know, if you ever feel the need to talk about something, you can always come to me,” she says as she struggles with the tie in her hands. 

Hyejin appreciates the leader’s words, but they both know neither of them are used to discussing their feelings properly. They have always been like this. They used to clash over it at times when they were trainees, but now they understand the other so well that they often don’t need words to communicate. 

“I know,” Hyejin nods. “Thank you unnie.” 

“Anything at all,” she drags out. “You know, also if it’s… Wheein related.” She tries to sound casual, but the way she intently looks at her through the mirror makes Hyejin understand that she knows there’s more going on between her and Wheein than they have ever vocalized. 

She feels her heart beating faster at the thought of her telling Yongsun about what happened between them, and for once she doesn’t immediately push the thought away. Perhaps confiding in the leader wouldn’t be such a bad idea. It would certainly make her feel less lonely, and maybe she would even have some good advice to give. 

But how would she even start explaining the situation? The four of them had known each other for years. She couldn’t just out of the blue tell her that she had fallen in love with Wheein but that the other girl refused to talk to her about it. She couldn’t make Yongsun a part of the mess that their lives had become, right? Or could she?

Just at that moment, Byulyi pokes her head inside again, tapping on the glass of the door to catch their attention.

“Unnie, are you coming?” she asks.

Yongsun looks at Hyejin expectantly, seemingly waiting for her to either open up about her issues or dismiss her. 

It would be so easy to tell her everything, but she doesn’t know if she’s ready for it all to come to the surface yet. This is her and Wheein’s secret, and she wants them to figure out their feelings more before telling someone else about them. 

She eventually puts on a tired smile and nods her head towards Byulyi. “It’s fine, go,” she ensures Yongsun. “And really, thank you unnie.” 

Yongsun nods and gives her shoulder a reassuring squeeze before following Byulyi outside. 

And so Hyejin goes home by herself like she had been wanting to all day. Still, she doesn’t feel as relieved or content as she thought she would when she thinks of Wheein’s sad eyes.

After a quick shower she immediately dives into bed, ready for sleep to take over her, but her mind keeps wandering to Wheein like it does most nights. She plays some slow music to distract herself, but somehow every single song reminds her of the other girl. She settles for English music, but by now she knows Rihanna’s lyrics so well that even those seem to fit her and Wheein’s friendship perfectly.

“You and I, you and I… We’re like diamonds in the sky.”Skip.“Not really sure how to feel about it. Something in the way you move, makes me feel like I can’t live without you—”Skip.

“Chest to chest, nose to nose. Palm to palm, we were always just that close.”Skip.

“Te amo, te a—”

Hyejin cuts the music with a groan and rolls over to lie on her back. She looks up to the ceiling and releases a puff of air through her lips. She grips her sheets with her fists and for a moment, only a moment, allows her mind to wander to the other girl. She wonders if she’s having fun with Yongsun and Byulyi, or if she’s still sad like she had been on her way out of practice. She wonders if she’s thinking of Hyejin right now, just like Hyejin is thinking of her. 

She involuntarily brings a hand to her lips, fingers gently grazing over her cupid’s bow. The memory of Wheein lying in this bed next to her comes to mind, and before she can stop herself, she’s imagining soft lips pressing against her own. Her right hand grips the sheets tighter, but that only causes her to think of the way Wheein had gripped her shirt that night to pull her closer.

A surge of heat spreads from her chest down to the pit of her stomach, and it feels natural to move her hand from the sheets to the bottom of her sleeping shirt. She rests it there while the fingers of her other hand still graze over her lips. It would be so easy to move her hand further down and let it slip into her pajama shorts, but something about it feels wrong. 

She knows she shouldn’t try to get off at the thought of her best friend, even though they were so much more than that. It wasn’t that it felt wrong to do so because of Wheein. No, fuck Wheein, she thought. She just knows that if she did this, she would only make things so much harder on herself next time she had to face the girl. 

So she rolls onto her side and tucks her hands under her cheek with a sigh, trying to ignore the throbbing feeling between her legs. 

She doesn’t know when she falls asleep, but a while later she’s abruptly startled awake by the loud buzzing of her doorbell. For a moment she thinks she has imagined it, but soon after the sound fills the room for a second time. She quickly checks the time on her media box, surprised to see it’s already far past midnight. 

Who’s ringing her doorbell this late at night? She’s ready to ignore it and stay in bed, thinking perhaps someone has the wrong apartment. But what if it’s an emergency? She drags herself out of the warmth of her bed to look at the little screen that shows the cctv of who’s at her door. 

Her heart immediately skips a beat when she easily recognizes the figure as Wheein, despite her arm half blocking the camera and her head seemingly resting against the door. She skips over to the small hallway, quickly unlocking the door before opening it.

Wheein stumbles inside when the object supporting her head suddenly disappears, but she catches herself by Hyejin’s shoulders to regain her balance.

“Whee—”

Before she can further question Wheein’s visit, familiar lips are suddenly crashing against her own. Her mind goes blank as Wheein pushes them further inside, kicking the door closed behind her before kicking off her shoes and shrugging off her coat. 

Hyejin’s hands automatically go to the other girl’s waist for support as she’s being pushed towards her bed, too overwhelmed to do anything else. It takes a small nip at her bottom lip for her to realize that her own aren’t moving, but that quickly changes when the tip of Wheein’s tongue pushes past them. Tasting the strong alcohol on the other girl’s breath, she knows she should probably break the kiss, but the way Wheein pulls her body flush against her own while her hands explore her back and her stomach leave her completely helpless. 

She finally gets a chance to breathe when Wheein pushes her onto the bed, but the girl quickly follows her down, barely able to catch herself from fully crashing on top of her. Their chins painfully clash when she reunites their lips, but it doesn’t seem to bother Wheein in the slightest because the heated kiss only intensifies. 

The throbbing between Hyejin’s legs returns, stronger than ever, and Wheein now straddling her hips certainly isn’t helping. They need to slow down, or even stop, but it’s hard when soft hands are roaming all over her body, pulling her impossibly closer to her. 

She brings her hands to Wheein’s cheeks in the hopes to wordlessly express her need to slow down, but when her thumbs graze the skin under her eyes, she realizes they’re wet. She immediately pulls away from the kiss, holding Wheein in place when she tries to follow her lips.

“Wheein, you’re crying,” she stupidly observes as she wipes the wetness away from under her red and puffy eyes. 

The other girl avoids her eyes, her own still lingering on Hyejin’s swollen lips, ready to lean back in.

Hyejin stops her by pushing against her shoulders. “Wheein.” She bows her head down, trying to catch her gaze and hopefully get some answers to what spurred on this completely unexpected visit.

Wheein eventually seems to realize that whatever air had been hanging in the room moments earlier has dissipated. She takes in a shaky breath and closes her eyes, new tears escaping them in the process. Hyejin quickly wipes them away. 

She briefly leans into the touch before pushing herself off Hyejin’s lap and up from the bed. She wordlessly walks over to her discarded coat near the door, but before she can even put one arm in a sleeve, Hyejin is right beside her pulling the item away from her again.

“Wheein, what the fuck? You can’t just leave.” She throws the coat into a corner of the room when Wheein makes another move for it before turning her body to block her access to it altogether.

“It’s late,” Wheein says.

Hyejin hates this. She hates that one moment Wheein is so clearly showing her desire for her and the next she’s acting cold and indifferent like this. She’s been pushing her away for days, even though she clearly feels the same way about Hyejin as Hyejin feels about her. She’s more sure about that than ever now, after Wheein’s sudden visit.

“Stop pushing me away.” She hates how desperate she sounds. 

Wheein says nothing, still avoiding her gaze as she quickly wipes a sleeve over her cheeks.

“You know, we could have something so beautiful if you just stopped avoiding me all the time. Like you’re doing right now.” She huffs when Wheein discreetly steps away from the hand reaching out to her. “Just look at me for a second, okay?” she says, the frustration clear in her voice.

Wheein finally gives in, meeting Hyejin’s eyes with her teary ones. 

“These feelings we’re having are not just going to go away. The fact that you came over this late and—” She takes in a shaky breath, the reality of the situation suddenly hitting her. “And kissed me makes me believe you know that. So why can’t you just trust your feelings and finally talk to me?” The desperation grows with every second Wheein looks her in the eye. “Why are you ruining everything?” 

Those last words finally draw some reaction from Wheein. First, a small twitch of her lips. Then her jaw tightening. Then her eyebrows pulling together in a frown. Then suddenly hands on Hyejin’s shoulders harshly pushing her away.

She stumbles backwards in surprise.

“I’m ruining everything?” Wheein spits with slightly slurred words. “You think you have this all figured out and that you’re in control of everything, but you're really fucking not.” She pushes her again, Hyejin nearly tripping over one of Wheein’s shoes. 

“I know I don’t have everything figured out, but neither do you,” Hyejin spits back between gasps before quickly grabbing Wheein’s arm to avoid getting pushed again. The older girl’s intoxication makes her stumble in the process.

“At least I’m in control of my feelings!”

“Oh yeah? Then why did you come here and kiss me?” she retorts. 

“I— I,” the brunette blinks. “You’re right, that was a mistake.” She bends down to pick up her shoes, nearly toppling over. Hyejin steadies her by her shoulders and yanks the shoes from her hands again.

“Stop trying to leave,” she yells in frustration.

“Stop taking my stuff from me,” Wheein yells back. “I’m leaving.”

“You’re not.” She winces when the drunk girl slaps a weak fist against her shoulder.

“I am.”

“Stop.” Hyejin catches her fist when it flies towards her again. “You’re drunk. I’m not letting you go home by yourself like this.”

“I got here by myself like this,” Wheein retorts.

“Yeah, and that was stupid.” 

Wheein angrily hits her in the arm with her free fist when Hyejin calls her stupid, the other girl immediately letting out a groan as she pushes her away.

“Stop hitting me!” she shouts, anger suddenly rising up in her throat. She’s done circling around all of this. It’s late, she’s tired, and admittedly she’s incredibly confused by everything that has occurred ever since Wheein stumbled through her door. 

She takes a suddenly compliant Wheein by the shoulders and pushes her towards the bathroom. “You are going to take a shower, drink some water, and then you’re going to sleep. I don’t care if you take the couch or the bed, just don’t be stupid and leave this apartment. Tomorrow, we’re talking about all of this.” 

She pushes the girl into the bathroom and closes the door behind her before leaning her own forehead against it. Her fingers immediately find their way to her lips as her mind wanders to the way Wheein’s lips had crashed against hers in such desperation. She thinks of the hands that wandered over her body in desire. How her hips had briefly rolled against her own.

She thinks of her begging Wheein to talk about their situation instead of circling around it and pretending there were no feelings there. After tonight, Wheein would no longer be able to deny any of it. They would finally have to face things, because Hyejin didn’t know what she’d do if Wheein would go back to hiding after this.

When the sound of the shower turning on draws her from her thoughts, she finally turns around and walks back over to her bed. She lets herself fall on the mattress with a heavy sigh, waiting for sleep to come over her, but of course it doesn’t. 

She’s still awake when she hears Wheein’s bare feet tap against the laminate flooring before the bed dips and a warm body carefully slides under the covers next to her. She keeps her eyes closed, wondering if the other girl can tell she’s still awake. 

When she hears Wheein say her name in the softest whisper, her eyes flutter open, immediately meeting the other girl’s gaze. 

“You were right, you know,” she whispers. 

“About what?” Hyejin whispers just as quietly, as if they hadn’t just been shouting at each other moments earlier. 

“Maybe I’m not in control of my feelings,” she says as if it’s her first time realizing it. “But I was. Until you messed everything up again.” 

Hyejin closes her eyes again with a sigh. Though there’s no accusatory tone in her voice this time, she doesn’t know what she could say to those words without this potentially turning into an argument once more. “Let’s talk tomorrow.” 

Wheein hums in response, finalizing the conversation. 

Right before sleep can fully take over, Hyejin hears Wheein whisper the words, “I wish I had forgotten, too.” 

____

End of Part I


	6. Part II - Wheein

PART II  
_____

Wheein’s POV  
_____

When the realization first hits her, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise. 

It feels like an inevitable fate that cruelly squeezes at her heart. It’s just another thing she has no control over, just like most other things that involve Hyejin. 

Wheein met her at school when they were twelve years old. It was like a story from a drama. Two girls becoming close friends after the youngest confidently stated she fell for her. Maybe that courageous attitude was what made Wheein fall for her too. 

They were inseparable for most of their teenage years. Hyejin was there for her through all her hardships. She was there when her parents split up and her father left, and she was there when her grandmother passed away. Wheein was there for Hyejin in times of loneliness, when her hardworking parents had no time to make her dinner or help with her homework. 

They grew up together, and soon enough Hyejin became the most familiar person to her. More familiar than other friends. Even more familiar than her own mother.

“Do you think we were destined to meet?” Hyejin had once asked her after a late dinner at a local chicken parlor. 

“Yes,” Wheein had nodded. She hadn’t even needed to think about it.

Everything about Hyejin felt inevitable to her. Like they were two scales that kept each other perfectly in balance. Like both of them were sliding down two opposing slides that would always meet each other in the middle. 

Looking back, her jealousy should have been an indication of what she felt for Hyejin. Hyejin had no trouble talking to boys. While she was shy and gentle, the girl radiated an extraordinary form of confidence that either intimidated or intrigued boys. 

Her first boyfriend was an asshole. Wheein had told her so more than once, and Hyejin had eventually agreed when the kid had come to her house to ask her for money. While the breakup hadn’t caused her much sadness, it still became a difficult time for her. 

They were at an age where bullying and judgement had started spreading through the school. Hyejin had been a victim to these mean, whispered words. It broke Wheein’s heart to hear the nasty things that were being said about her best friend, but she felt pride swell in her chest every time Hyejin called the bullies out.

“I’m going to prove them all wrong,” she had said.

There had been no doubt in her voice, and Wheein knew then that the other girl wouldn’t stop until they achieved their shared dream of becoming idols. They would follow each other every step of the way, no matter how many hardships they had to go through. 

When she saw the determination in the younger girl’s eyes she knew that they were in this together. 

That was when Wheein first realized she was in love with her best friend.   
___

They moved to Seoul together and became trainees at the same company. They went through many hardships on their way there, but eventually they did fulfill their dreams of becoming idols. After years of training together, they debuted alongside Yongsun and Byulyi as Mamamoo. 

In the years that had passed the two girls grew even closer together. Their lives were so closely correlated that there wasn’t anything that went unspoken between them. Sometimes Wheein thought she knew Hyejin better than the girl knew herself. There was nothing they didn’t know about the other.

Nothing, except the minor detail that Wheein was in love with her best friend.

Sometimes she wondered if Hyejin ever suspected anything. Perhaps her love for the younger girl was so engrained into her personality that Hyejin thought nothing of the looks of desire when talking of the future, the shy smiles whenever she kissed her cheek, or the strain in her voice when talking about boys. Those things had always been there, after all. They were a part of who Wheein was.

She knew that her love for Hyejin was an inevitable fate that she had to endure on her own. As idols, dating publicly often brought issues with it. While their company didn’t have any strict rules about it, she knew the scandal that would appear if her sexuality came out would be a big one. As an idol, she was doomed to a life of secrecy. 

It was cruel really. She would get to spend the rest of her life with Hyejin, but never the way she wanted to. She would have to watch Hyejin fall in love with a man, and eventually watch her get married. 

Wheein had faith their friendship would never be replaced, but it would always be just that. Friendship.

Still, that doesn’t stop Wheein from fantasizing at times. 

While she tried to suppress her feelings as best as she could, she can’t help but revel at the way Hyejin always prepares her favorite meal for her when she comes over. She’ll always let Wheein taste it while cooking, gently blowing at the hot food before offering her the spoon.

She can’t suppress her happiness when Hyejin curls up to her at night when they’re having sleepovers and places the occasional kiss to her neck. She wonders if she ever notices the way her heart speeds up when her lips press against her pulsepoint. 

She can’t stop her throat from running dry every time she thinks of the first time Hyejin pulled her into the bathroom after one of those said sleepovers and told her to undress. 

“It’ll save water,” she had said as she turned on the shower. 

These little things were normal to them now. They went on dates, they slept in the same bed and they had seen each other naked countless times. It had nothing to do with Wheein’s feelings, it was just a thing best friends did.

Yes. Looking back, falling in love with Hyejin seemed inevitable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a short, but revealing chapter here. Take it as an introduction to the second part of this story. I'm excited to share the next chapters from Wheein's POV.
> 
> I'd also like to thank everyone who has left kudos and comments on this story. Directly reading your thoughts always means the world to me! Thanks for all the nice words and feedback.


	7. Jealousy

The Before  
_____ 

When Hyejin pushes through the open door of Wheein’s apartment, she finds Wheein sitting on the floor with a pile of clothes surrounding her. It’s a Friday, which means it’s time for their weekly dinner date. It usually involves them eating take out in Wheein’s bed and her being kicked out when she inevitably spills sauce on Wheein’s sheets. 

“Hey,” Hyejin greets as she closes the door behind her. “What are you doing?”

“Cleaning.” Wheein gestures towards the clothes scattered around the floor as if her actions are obvious.

“You know,” Hyejin starts as she puts down her bag and shrugs off her coat. “People usually put their clothes in a closet when they clean.”

“I’m sorting out what I wanna keep and what I can get rid of,” Wheein explains. She holds up a piece of clothing, examining it with a frown on her face.

“Hey, I thought I lost that shirt!” Hyejin yanks it from her hands. “What else have you stolen?” 

She starts digging through the pile of clothes, ignoring Wheein frantically trying to slap her hands away.

“I already sorted those, you’ll mess up the piles!” she huffs.

“There’s different piles?” Hyejin asks incredulously, but stops regardless. 

“Aish, I’m more organized than I look,” Wheein says as she throws another shirt over her shoulder.

“Oh how I wish that were true.” Hyejin dramatically throws her arms around Wheein’s shoulders and leans into her, causing them to fall on top of one of the piles. 

Wheein whines in protest for a moment, but when Hyejin doesn’t appear to be planning on moving any time soon, she allows her arms to encircle her waist.

They lay there for a moment, Wheein impatiently tapping her fingers on Hyejin’s arm trying to ignore the fluttering feeling in the pit of her stomach. Hyejin just sighs and smiles into her neck in return. She eventually leans up on her elbows, freeing the girl pinned under her.

“Do you remember that guy from Daegu I told you about a couple months ago?” she asks, chin resting on her palms as she looks up at Wheein who has gone back to sorting her clothes.

“Ah, Sung-something?” Wheein says without looking up.

“Sungmin,” she nods. 

Wheein definitely remembers. It was a guy Hyejin had met a couple of months ago. It was no secret to her that Hyejin had liked him from the very start. She had made that clear to him too, but he seemed to keep his distance for some reason. Wheein remembers the text saying he wanted to just be friends and Hyejin’s disappointment that followed. Their ‘friendship’ withered soon after. 

“The text guy,” Wheein acknowledges.

“Yah,” Hyejin throws a shirt at her face. “I have a date with him tomorrow.”

Wheein freezes, using the shirt covering her face to hide whatever emotion crosses it in that moment. Hyejin going on dates or even dating for longer periods of time isn’t new to her, but the pain it causes her still takes her by surprise every time. 

She knows it’s unfair of her to feel that way. Hyejin is someone who loves fiercely, and while it may be painful at times, it’s always beautiful to see her that way. Wheein has had years to prepare for moments like this. She knows these moments are inevitable, but she’s not sure if having that knowledge makes it any easier to bear.

“But there’s one thing,” Hyejin hesitates.

“What?” Wheein finally yanks the shirt off her face.

“It’s a double date.”

Wheein already opens her mouth to protest, but Hyejin quickly continues.

“His friend is really nice and he has a lot of similar interests to you. He’s tall and he has cute curly hair and apparently he really wants to meet you,” Hyejin says.

“Absolutely not,” Wheein says, digging through a pile of clothes she has already sorted.

“But Whee—” 

“No.”

“He’s really—”“No,” Wheein says again.“Listen—” 

“Nooo,” Wheein drags out, only stopping when Hyejin lunges at her and puts a hand over her mouth.

“Why not?” Hyejin asks with a pout on her lips.

Hyejin having a date with a guy is one thing, but her having to be there when it happens will just put her through unnecessary pain. Her safest bet is staying far away from that date and mentally preparing to be bombarded with all the details after.

“Ask Yongsun-unnie,” Wheein says instead of answering.

“That’s your worst idea yet,” Hyejin scoffs. “Imagine how embarrassing she would be.” 

“Byul?” She suggests.

“She would get me friendzoned before we would even be able to order our drinks,” Hyejin whines. “You haven’t dated in so long, come on.” 

It’s true. Wheein’s last relationship had ended two years ago, shortly after Hyejin’s first serious relationship had ended. It had been a difficult period for her when it started, with Hyejin having less time for her because of her own relationship. It had started with friendship, but personal struggles and fears about her bisexuality had made her accept when he asked her to be his girlfriend. 

It had been nice for a while. He was funny, handsome, and kind. Their relationship sprouted from friendship, but she knew her feelings for him weren’t as strong as her feelings for her best friend were. When Hyejin broke up with her boyfriend, Wheein’s relationship had naturally ended not long after.

“Can’t you go on a date with just Text Guy?” she asks.

“I think Sungmin is too shy to go on a single date,” Hyejin pouts again. “Please come with me, I really want you there.”

“You just want me there because there’s no date without me,” Wheein grumbles. 

Hyejin gasps at that, grabbing a hold of the sleeves of Wheein’s hoodie and dragging her forward into another hug.

“I want you there because you’re my best friend and I love you,” she says. “You’re my Wheeinie.”

Wheein can’t help but giggle when Hyejin wriggles her fingers into her sleeves until they won’t go up any further. 

“So you really like this guy, huh?” she asks as she leans into the warm embrace.

“On a scale of one to ten? I’d say a solid eight,” she nods. “On a scale of one to Wheein? Probably a two.” 

She laughs at her own joke and proceeds to press a quick kiss to Wheein’s cheek, startling the girl for a moment. Before she can react, she pulls her arms out of Wheein’s sleeves and gets up.

“I’ll order chicken.”

___

Wheein restlessly pulls at the bottom of her dress where it has slightly risen up, revealing more skin than she’s comfortable with. She was planning on wearing a nice top with simple but classy dress pants, but Hyejin had somehow managed to convince her to wear a rather tight and short dress. 

Perhaps the “You look really hot,” whispered in her ear was what had swayed her decision. 

So now here she was, at the entrance of the restaurant they were meeting at for their double date. She fumbled with her phone while awkwardly looking around her, feeling oddly out of place. 

“Are you here yet?” she texts Hyejin.

A reply comes almost immediately. “I’ll be there in 5 mins. Go inside.” 

She rubs her hands over her legs with a sigh in order to keep herself warm from the wind. She can wait five minutes. The coat she’s wearing doesn’t do much to keep her legs warm, but the cold is better than having to make awkward conversation with her or Hyejin’s date inside. 

It’s as if Hyejin knows, because soon after the first text she receives a second one. “It’s windy, don’t wait outside.” 

She replies with a bunch of random emojis with the full intent of waiting for her outside anyway, but when she puts her phone back in her clutch and looks up, she sees Hyejin’s date walking towards her. She automatically turns around in the hopes that he won’t see or recognize her, but she knows he has when his footsteps stop behind her. 

“Hello Wheein,” he says, making her turn around to face him. 

She feigns a look of surprise. “Sungmin, hi! Long time no see.” 

“I know right? I was glad to hear you were coming tonight,” he smiles, putting his hands in the pockets of his cream suit. The confidence he reflects doesn’t quite match the image she had of him when they first met all those months ago. He definitely didn’t seem like the shy kind like Hyejin had said.

“Do you want to go inside? It’s cold,” he says, already opening the door before she can respond. 

“Sure,” she says as she follows after him. She smiles awkwardly when he moves to stand behind her and grabs the collar of her coat to help her shrug it off. She mutters a quick “thank you,” when he puts it on a coat hanger for her. 

Without the piece of clothing she feels even more exposed than before. She rubs her arms, highly aware of her bare shoulders. Perhaps she shouldn’t have worn a strapless dress after all. 

“You look beautiful,” Sungmin tells her.

She laughs awkwardly at his words. “Thanks,” she mutters before making eye contact with the hostess who greets them and asks for what name their reservation is under. She leads them to their table where Sungmin pulls out a chair for her to sit on. She thanks him once again as he sits down on the chair opposite of hers.

“No problem,” he smiles. 

They make small talk and wait for the other two to arrive. He asks her about work, so she returns the question. When he goes in depth on the current situation of the stock markets she quickly glances at the time on her phone. 

Just at that moment Hyejin walks up to their table, much to Wheein’s relief. The brunette can’t help but notice the way her knee-length black velvet dress fits her body perfectly in all the right angles. She looks so beautiful that it takes her a moment to defer her eyes.

“Sorry I’m late,” she says as she pulls back the chair next to Wheein. She quickly bows to Sungmin and gives Wheein’s shoulder a light squeeze in greeting. 

“It’s okay. Wheein and I have been enjoying ourselves,” Sungmin says with another one of his signature smiles. 

“Oh absolutely. We’ve been talking about work.” She sends Hyejin a playful grin to convey her sarcasm. 

“Ah, so sad I missed that,” she chuckles. She nods at the waiter when he hands her a menu. “Should we wait for Donghyun?” 

Sungmin shrugs as he looks over his menu. “I’ll text him to ask where he is.” He takes his phone out, and barely a minute later lets out a groan, causing both Wheein and Hyejin to look up at him in surprise. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he mutters. “Donghyun says he can’t make it. I’m so sorry, Wheein,” he reaches over on the table to briefly graze her hand in an apology. “I can’t believe he only just texted me about it now.” 

Though slightly embarrassed, Wheein has to admit she feels relieved when she hears her date can’t make it. She really wasn’t looking forward to this evening anyway, and now she has an excuse to leave Hyejin and Sungmin alone. 

“Oh, it’s okay really.” She tries to at least sound a little bit dejected, but from the raise of Hyejin’s eyebrow she can tell she’s not fooling her. 

“It should be a crime to cancel on such a beautiful woman,” Sungmin continues.

Wheein chuckles awkwardly as she waves him off and pushes herself up. “It’s fine, I wasn’t really in the mood for a date anyway,” she says honestly. “I’ll just go so you can enjoy your date together.”

“Ah— wait!” Hyejin grabs her hand to stop her.

“Yeah, why don’t you just stay?”

“Oh no,” Wheein laughs, giving Hyejin’s hand a light squeeze. “I don’t want to impose.” And she really doesn’t want to stay and be the third wheel to Hyejin’s date with some guy. God must really hate her if she’s forced to sit through that. 

“Don’t be silly, we can just have dinner with the three of us.” Sungmin smiles as he gestures toward her chair, inviting her to sit back down. 

She hesitates for a moment, wondering how she can get out of this situation, but Hyejin’s pleading eyes quickly win her over, causing her to unwillingly sit back down on her chair. Perhaps she can stay for a quick meal. 

However, she didn’t anticipate how incredibly awkward the date would be. Hyejin seems to have turned into a quiet school girl, unable to even make light conversation with her date, who in turn pays just as little attention to her.

Somehow Wheein seems to have become the mediator of the date, with Sungmin showing clear interest in her life, and her trying to deflect his questions towards Hyejin. The other girl’s dismissive shrugs every time one of her sentences ends with “Right, Hyejin?” aren’t very helpful. 

She sends her a questioning look, but Hyejin just shakes her head with a tired smile. When Sungmin excuses himself to go to the bathroom, Wheein finally turns her full attention to her best friend. 

“What’s going on? I thought you really liked him.” Though she has no idea why. It doesn’t look like this new version of Sungmin would be her type, and they seem to be having little to no chemistry.

Hyejin takes a generous sip from her glass of wine, finishing it before placing it back on the table. “Wheein, he likes you,” she states calmly. 

“What? No he doesn’t,” Wheein laughs incredulously. 

“Come on, it’s so obvious. He has only been talking to you tonight, and he compliments you about once every two minutes.” Hyejin turns to face her, putting her elbow on the back of her chair and resting her chin in her palm. She lets out a chuckle when she watches the realization slowly dawn on the other girl. 

“I don’t think he likes me. The two of you just haven’t been speaking much tonight,” Wheein tries. 

“Wheein, it’s okay. He’s clearly more into you than he is into me, and that’s fine.” There’s no judgement in her voice, but it still unsettles Wheein. 

“Well, he’d be really stupid to like me. He’s on a date with you.” She frowns. If he really did show an interest in her, it was extremely disrespectful to do so when he was supposed to be on a date with the beautiful woman sitting next to her. 

“It kinda stopped being a date as soon as it became a three-person dinner,” Hyejin laughs, quickly grazing her hand over Wheein’s bare shoulder.

She shouldn’t have come. This whole date had nothing to do with her, and now suddenly she was thrown in the middle of it all. This was all just causing unnecessary drama between Hyejin and her, and over a boy of all things. She angrily stabs at her food at the thought of Sungmin shamelessly flirting with her in front of his date.

“What are you so angry about?” She chuckles, but it sounds hollow. Her intonation makes Wheein meet her eyes.

“Wait, are you angry?” She asks quietly. The thought of Hyejin being mad or disappointed in her because of this sends shivers down her spine. 

“No, of course not. I don’t blame him for liking you,” she playfully pats her bare leg. “I guess I’m just…” she pauses, eyes traveling from her own hand back to Wheein’s eyes in thought. “I’m jealous,” she realizes. She lets out a stunned chuckle before pulling her hand away and pouring herself another glass of wine.

Wheein sends her a sympathetic look, revealing her dimple to her. “You know I absolutely don’t like him, right?” She feels like she needs to make that clear. 

Hyejin shakes her head with a smile. “It would have been okay if you did, you know.” 

“I really, really don’t.” She draws out with a sigh. She hates hearing that Hyejin is jealous. Even though Sungmin and Hyejin didn’t seem to have much chemistry, this was their date, and Wheein somehow felt like she had ruined it for them. If only Hyejin knew what her true feelings were. 

Wheein pushes her chair back and starts getting up. 

“Where are you going?” Hyejin asks after quickly swallowing another generous sip of her wine.

“I ruined your date, I shouldn’t have come.” She pulls on her dress where it has slightly risen up again, muttering a quick “thanks,” when Hyejin helps her readjust it. 

“You didn’t ruin anything. The date would’ve been ruined if you hadn’t been here too. He’s changed a lot since I last saw him.” She shrugs. 

Just at that moment Sungmin reemerges from the bathroom. He slows his step when he sees Wheein standing next to her chair with her clutch in hand. 

“What’s going on?” he asks with a suspicious look on his face. 

“Ehh—” Wheein starts, but Hyejin interrupts her by loudly pushing her chair back and grabbing onto Wheein’s arm. 

“We have to leave, unfortunately. Something has come up,” she says as she downs her wine and drops enough money on the table to cover the whole dinner. 

Sungmin gapes at them in shock, unsure of what to say. “Something has come up?” he repeats, looking at Wheein.

“Yes, sorry,” she mutters as she avoids his gaze. Hyejin starts leading them away, but Sungmin stops them.

“W—wait,” he calls, making them turn back around. He awkwardly rubs the back of his head. “Can I…” he looks between Hyejin and Wheein, eventually settling on the latter. “Can I have your number?” 

Wheein gapes at him.

Hyejin let’s out such a long sigh that the other girl can easily imagine the accompanied roll of her eyes.

Sungmin looks at her both awkwardly and expectantly. 

She squints at him, almost certain she misheard his question. He couldn’t possibly be shameless enough to ask her for her number during his date with her best friend, who was currently standing right next to her. 

An awkward silence plays out and Wheein can almost physically see the regret filling his body as he realizes his mistake and uncomfortably shifts back and forth. She slowly starts shaking her head at him before turning on her heel and pulling Hyejin along with her. 

“Let’s get out of here,” Hyejin says.

“Let’s get wasted,” Wheein says at the same time.


End file.
